Deja Vega have recently dropped their highly anticipated second album, Personal Hell. Hailing from Winsford in Cheshire, Personal Hell pulls no punches from the minute the needle drops. Their signature rumbling punk sound that they introduced to the world with their 2019 self-titled debut album evolves on Personal Hell, with the introduction of angular synths that cut through the tracks and add a more melodic touch.
Recorded in 2020 on the brink of the pandemic, Deja Vega have certainly broadened their horizons on their latest effort, with more studio experimentation bringing a new element to their sound. Tracks like ‘It’s All Gone Wrong’, which opens the record, and ‘Banshee’ are perhaps the best examples of this. They show off everything that Deja Vega are about, punchy rhythms and growling vocals from front man Jack, but with something a little more than you bargained for.
Speaking to Tim’s Listening Party on Twitter, the album’s producer John Delf told listeners about the studio techniques that Deja Vega and himself experimented with on the record, such as ‘putting four synth channels through guitar amps’. Deja Vega took risks on the album and they certainly paid off.
The album is a rollercoaster of swirling psych-rock that twists and turns at such a rate that you’ll need to sit down once it’s over. The only real opportunity to take it easy is on the aptly titled ‘Slow and Steady’. The track grooves and oozes along, acting as a breather between ‘Precious One’ and the band’s latest single ‘Harmonia’. ‘Harmonia’ is nothing short of raw power, with the trio at their most furious and armed with their new ‘little friend’, the synthesizer. The record is a 40-minute assault on both your ears and your gut.
Personal Hell feels like it could be the start of a new frontier for Deja Vega. The songs are much more well-rounded than that of ‘Deja Vega’ and it feels like they may just be about to discover something they’d always been on the brink of. The risks they’ve taken on this new album may just be the ones that coax the trio off the brink and into a deeper, darker and more dangerous mood than the one they were in on Personal Hell, and who wouldn’t want that?
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